to Rock, Country, Blues & Jazz

January 10: David Bowie died in 2016

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”– David Bowie

David Robert Jones (born 8 January 1947, died Jan 10 2016), known by his stage name David Bowie, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator. He is known for his distinctive voice as well as the intellectual depth and considerable eclecticism of his work.

He will be missed

“I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, “Fuck that. I want to be a superhuman.” ― David Bowie

Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song “Space Oddity” reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single “Starman” and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie’s impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, “challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day” and “created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture.”

Ziggy Stardust:

The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single “Fame” and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as “plastic soul”. The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low (1977)—the first of three collaborations with Brian Enoover the next two years. The so-called “Berlin Trilogy” albums all reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise.

Heroes:

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes”, its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and “Under Pressure”, a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let’s Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, andjungle. His next to last recorded album was Reality (2003), which was supported by the 2003–04 Reality Tour. He has not performed live since 2006. His last album was the masterpiece Blackstar (2016).

Buckley says of Bowie: “His influence has been unique in popular culture—he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure.” In the BBC’s 2002 poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Bowie was placed at number 29. Throughout his career, he has sold an estimated 140 million albums. In the UK, he has been awarded nine Platinum album certifications, 11 Gold and eight Silver, and in the US, five Platinum and seven Gold certifications. In 2004, Rolling Stoneranked him 39th on their list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and 23rd on their list of the best singers of all-time. (source: Wikipedia)

Subscribe to BornToListen via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 382 other subscribers

Email Address

Search for:

Disclaimer

All images, lyrics and music belong to their rightful owners.
They are posted here for PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

Nonetheless, if you own the rights to any of these images, videos, lyrics or music and do not wish them to appear on the site please see the ABOUT page and contact us, and they will be promptly removed.